


Pillow Mansion

by Stratagem



Series: Resistance AU [1]
Category: The Gifted (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Gen, pillow fort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 06:28:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12978057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stratagem/pseuds/Stratagem
Summary: While Clarice and John go on a mission, James and Ali help Norah build a blanket fort.





	Pillow Mansion

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own The Gifted.
> 
> Takes place in the Resistance AU right after John and Clarice start dating. Clarice and Norah have been with the Underground for about four months, and Ali had been there for one. Jame and Ali are both 15, and Norah is 5-going-on-6. Also, Sage isn’t with the Underground yet, so she’s not in the command center doing her cool computer thing.

“What happened to Jenga?” James waved his hand at the blocks that had tumbled out of the Halloween-themed tin where the Underground stored its Jenga set. Half of the blocks were burned and the rest of them were smudged with soot and scorch marks.

Ali glanced up from the old history book she was reading and then hurriedly returned her attention to the pages. “That’s weird.”

James narrowed his eyes and picked up one of the blocks, rolling it with his fingers. “Wow, if that’s not the guiltiest look in the world.” He glanced over at Norah, who was sitting on the floor, her hands on the makeshift plywood coffee table. “She totally did it.”

Norah nodded a little, but her eyes were still distant and sad. It had been hours since Clarice and John had left on a mission to survey one of the nearby mutant relocation centers, and they hadn’t contacted HQ once. James was certain that they were fine, but he didn’t like that they hadn’t called when they were supposed to. They had missed their first contact time, and that had been over two hours ago. The next time they were supposed to check in was an hour away.

Norah had been haunting their command center and pestering Shatter and Marcos, who were covering comms. She often got anxious whenever Clarice went out on a mission, and it got worse whenever Clarice didn’t check in. Right now, she was a small bundle of nerves and tension. 

James had coaxed her away from the comms center and taken her to where he and Ali were hanging out in the tucked away sitting area that they often claimed.

It was essentially their space, though they shared with the HQ inhabitants and refugees. There was a plushy couch that had at least a dozen patches in it, a big plush arm chair with no legs, and the plywood coffee table. James and Ali stored their mismatched school supplies in the same place, along with the laptop they shared and a lot of the games that John, Clarice, and Marcos found for them. Norah had a stash of toys in the same place, all piled in an old trunk that John had hauled all the way from a junk yard. If the permanent members of the HQ had a living room, this was it.

“You can’t prove it,” Ali said, not looking up from the textbook, “Anyone could’ve burned those.”

“Ten to one, it was you and Marcos,” James said with a grin. He lobbed the block he was hold at her, and it arched perfectly before landing on her book. “You guys get too competitive and add that with your sparkly powers…”

“Still can’t prove it.” Ali picked up at block and tossed it back at him.

He snatched it out of the air and stuck it back on the pile. “Either way, we need a new Jenga set.”

“We can still use it,” Ali said, “It’s just a little singed.”

James picked up another block, one of the more burned ones. Part of it crumbled in his grip, and Ali let out a small aggravated noise.

“Well, if you don’t squeeze them, you maniac,” she said, setting the textbook down, “Not all of us are super strong and break everything. Tell him, Norah.”

Norah glanced at James and then reached over to toy with one of the Jenga blocks, setting it so that it leaned against another block. James and Ali glanced at each other across the space, and he knew she understood what he wasn’t saying. They had to distract Norah somehow.

Ali slid off her armchair and onto the worn rug, reaching for some of the Jenga blocks. “Here, James, I’ll show you how to play.”

“We played last week, and I beat you five times,” he said, rolling his eyes as he got off the couch on sat on the rug beside Norah. He made a goofy show of pushing her gently so he would have more room, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“You cheated,” Ali said, “You kept future-glimpsing to see if your moves would be all right.”

“Hey, hey, I did _not_.”

Ali smirked and started piling up that Jenga blocks, one on tops of the other. “They’re not burned that bad. See, they still work. Norah, do you want to play?”

“Not really,” the five-year-old said, tapping one of the blocks and shaking her head.

“Okay, then…” James leaned back against the couch and looked at Ali. “ _Now what_?” he mouthed at her.

She bit her lip and then her bright blue eyes lit up, practically glowing with excitement. “We’re going to build a fort.”

Norah raised her head, faintly curious. “Outside? It’s dark. John said we can’t go outside at dark.”

“No, we’ll make it in here,” Ali said, getting up, her hands on her hips. James recognized that determined look on her face and resigned himself to going along with whatever plan she was coming up with on the fly. “Right here.”

“They’ll love that,” James said with a grin, thinking of John’s reaction if they did some serious remodeling. They could block off the entire area, put up some walls, tack up a sign that said ‘Kids Only.’ It would serve them right for treating him and Ali like kids and not letting them go on missions. They had super powers and were hunted by the government, how much more dangerous would it be to let them out in the field? But no, they had to stay at HQ.

“I was thinking less destruction and more fun,” Ali said, rolling her eyes at him. “So let’s go get all the blankets and pillows we can find. And sheets.”

Norah looked uncertain but she stood up and left, wandering toward the rooms that had been converted to sleeping quarters. James and Ali both got up, James wandering over to nudge Ali. “A blanket fort?”

“It’s the first thing that popped to mind,” she said, shrugging, her eyes suddenly avoiding his, “Me and my mom used to make them.”

James nodded, knowing enough to steer clear of asking her more questions about her mother. “I’ll go raid some rooms,” he said, walking backward in the direction that Norah went, “John doesn’t need a blanket anyways.”

“Clarice might miss it.”

“True…I’ll let her have it back if she asks nicely.”

“I’ll go for the extra supplies,” Ali said, “We can always say we were airing things out.”

James grinned at her plan, knowing it would never actually convince anyone but would be a decent cover. No one would complain about them distracting Norah, anyways, even if they were planning on making a huge mess.

After ten minutes, half of the bedrooms in HQ were devoid of blankets and sheets and the entire extra supply room had been emptied. The three thieves stood in the middle of their sitting area, looking at the massive amount of building supplies they had accumulated. Norah was actually smiling, just a tiny bit, and she flopped down on the blanket pile. James grabbed a couple pillows and tossed them on top of her, and Ali dropped a sheet on her. She snuggled down into the pile, hiding under the pillows.

“We’re going to need more space,” James said, his expression all mischief as he looked at their sitting area. “Allow me.”

Ali merely gestured at the area, welcoming him to do his worst. While he moved most of the furniture out of the way, she disassembled the makeshift coffee table. He took the plywood and eight of the cinderblocks while she moved one cinderblock. He would’ve taken the last one too, but Ali probably would’ve gotten a little miffed since she was already carrying it out of the way.

Norah emerged from her blanket cocoon. While she had been grabbing blankets, she had also picked up her stuffed animal, a worn-out dog named Fred. It was so old and well-loved that its fur had patches and it was missing one leg. But Norah adored it, and it wasn’t like getting a new one would be easy. “What now?”

“We’ll make a fort,” Ali said. She picked up a sheet and grinned at James. “Grab the other end and tie it to that beam.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he teased, getting her to glare at him. He laughed and snagged the end of the sheet to other support column while she tied the opposite end to another sheet, creating a mega-sheet. Norah stepped through the opening underneath the tie and then popped back in, playing with the sheets. James and Ali shared a quick smile and kept working, eventually walling the whole place in. They ignored the stares and muttered remarks from the other mutants who were hanging around, the people who were waiting to move on to their new safehouses. Maybe it looked weird to other people, but it was definitely helping Norah keep her mind off Clarice and John still being gone.

James and Ali used the rearranged furniture to make a second fort inside the walls, like a castle with a moat. They used up all of the sheets and then the blankets, using the rug for a base. When everything was in place and they had what added up to a blanket tent, they tossed the pillows inside and let Norah bring in anything else she wanted. Ali headed to the kitchen while James helped Norah, and when she came back, she had three random mugs of cheap hot chocolate, a bowl of popcorn, and the laptop she and James shared.

“I thought we could watch Trolls,” Ali said as James took the mugs from her, handing one to Norah.

“Actually not a terrible idea,” he said, grinning. Ali stuck her tongue out at him, mostly to get a laugh out of Norah. He and Ali constantly teased and picked on each other, and sometimes James wondered what he did with all his time before she was there. More training? He probably pestered John a hell of a lot more. Back then, he had been the only permanent teen at HQ. With Ali, he finally had someone his age to talk to who stayed around longer than a couple days. Sort of nice.

“Can we?” Norah asked. She blew gently on her hot chocolate and looked at James. “You don’t care?”

“I don’t have anything against the furry little weirdos,” James said, “I’m the Branch of this operation.”

“I’m not the Poppy,” Ali said firmly, though the pink roots of her hair said otherwise. “I’m not that peppy.”

“Or that nice,” he said, earning him an elbow in the side before she sat down next to Norah. “And there’s your temper, so yeah, super not Poppy.” She glanced around the tent and slowly soft golden glimmers like fairy lights twinkled around the top of the tent. “There we go.”

“That’s pretty,” Norah said, looking up at the lights that Ali’s sound-to-light powers had created. It was pretty, especially the way it lit up Ali’s eyes…

“Movie time,” James said, pulling his attention away from his best friend and ruffling Norah’s hair. He booted up the old laptop and found the illegal download, deciding that he would suffer through the singing nightmares to make Norah happy. Also, making long-suffering faces at Ali would keep him occupied.

A few hours later, when John and Clarice finally got back to HQ from their wild misadventure, Clarice sporting a twisted ankle and John bruised from catching bullets, they found Norah asleep in the blanket fort. James was asleep on couch that had been incorporated in the design, one hand hanging over the edge of the couch, fingertips brushing Ali’s hair as she slept beside Norah, a blanket thrown over the two girls.

“That’s cute,” Clarice said, smirking at the scene as she let the tent door fall closed.

At the sound of her voice, James jerked awake, yanking his hand back and sitting up. He hit the side of the tent, one that must not have been secured very well, and part of the wall collapsed as it came undone. Both of the girls yelped as they woke up and saw the blanket fort collapsing on them.

John reached out and snagged the sheet before it could fall entirely. “Jumpy?” he asked through the sheet, reaching out to grab his little brother’s head. James fussed and then all three of them crawled out of the tent, Ali and Norah swarming Clarice while James headed toward John, who let the sheet he was holding go. Half of the tent fell inward.

“You’re okay!” Norah bounced around Clarice, grabbing her hand.

Ali noticed how Clarice was favoring one foot and the bandage she was now sporting, how John was hovering so close to Clarice. Ali and Clarice shared a look, silently agreeing that Norah shouldn’t be alarmed. Ali reached out and touched Clarice’s arm, her relieved smile saying that they had been worried. “We’re glad you’re back.”

“Took longer than expected,” John said.

“No kidding.” James narrowed his eyes at John, sporting the growing bruises that meant bullet hits. They might both be bullet-proof, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt, that it didn’t leave marks.

“We’re fine,” John said, reaching out and grasping James’ shoulder, “We ran into a snag.”

“But it was okay in the end,” Clarice said, grinning at Norah, “Because we found out what we needed.” She glanced past the kid at the blanket fort. “And you guys were busy.”

“We made a fort!” Norah exclaimed.

“Is that our blanket?” Clarice asked John, pointing toward one of the quilts.

James and Ali glanced at each other and Ali fake yawned. “Wow, I am so sleepy…”

“Yeah, gotta get up early tomorrow, training and everything…”

“Get back here.”


End file.
